Counterfeit articles imitating true articles have heretofore been appearing on the commodity market. Some counterfeit articles have been so skillfully produced that it is often difficult to determine whether they are true ones or false ones. The presence of illegal counterfeit products disturbs the order in the market and, particularly, a flood of goods copying products of famous brands is creating a social problem. It can therefore be contrived to attach information-recording means such as a seal or a tag to a true article, read ID information by an information read/display means in a stage of distribution to distinguish the true article from the counterfeit articles.
As means for displaying ID information of articles, there has heretofore been widely used an article managing/cash registering system based upon ID information by using bar codes. However, a seal or a tag with a printed bar code which is visible information can be easily forged, detached and attached, and is not sufficient as an information display system from the standpoint of discriminating counterfeit articles. In order to constitute an article information display system adapted to inspecting the true and counterfeit articles, therefore, it becomes necessary to use an ID information-recording means that cannot be forged or replaced to substitute for visible information recording means such as bar codes.
Furthermore, when a person who contracts a license with an owner of an industrial property produces products on license, a conflict may occur concerning the contract of license unless the owner of the industrial property correctly grasps the number of the products produced on license. Such a trouble concerning the contract can be effectively avoided and the number of the license products that are produced can be controlled by the owner of the industrial property if the owner of the industrial property offers, to the licensee, ID information-recording means of a quantity based on the contract of license that cannot be forged, and if the articles are provided with the ID information-recording means in a stage of production.
Therefore, there arises a technical problem that must be solved to provide a method of displaying ID information that is adapted to inspecting the true and false articles and to controlling the number of the products by using information-recording means that cannot be formed or replaced and that can be employed for a great number of items of products. The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem.